


mastermind.

by stxrryy



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different Mastermind (Dangan Ronpa), Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Dangan Ronpa Spoilers, F/M, Killing School Life (Dangan Ronpa), Lowercase, Mastermind AU, Mastermind Maizono Sayaka, Mentioned Students of Class 78, Result of an Unrelated Conversation, Romance, Thanks Grace!, Tragedy, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:48:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22452181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stxrryy/pseuds/stxrryy
Summary: if only they knew they could’ve been happy, the outsiders would whisper.that at one time, they had been filled with hope rather than despair.and they stayed by each other’s side.
Relationships: Ishimaru Kiyotaka/Oowada Mondo (mentioned), Kuwata Leon/Maizono Sayaka
Comments: 2
Kudos: 45





	1. beginnings.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they had been polar opposites.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “..leon?”
> 
> “yeah?”
> 
> “you know if the world outside really is gone..”

...

sayaka knows exactly when and why she fell down that large pit filled with sadness, regret and pity.

in a time where despair was barely heard of, and life was as close as normal, the two had met. 

leon had heard of her music and her presence in the music industry way before he had met her, and any of the tragedy struck them. jeez, she and her girl group were everywhere. each music store had each of their albums, countless posters almost every japanese girl had plastered on their walls, t-shirts promoting each of them, leon had even spotted leg warmers once!

leon had never taken that much of an interest in music at first, keeping his mind straight on the fact he was to please his parents, teachers and peers by focusing on baseball, but once he heard a hot girl at the hairdresser’s really had a thing for music, he jumped right in, fitting himself under the category of a punk kid whose ambition was to become a world-wide known musician. like sayaka maizono, minus the girly dresses and leg warmers.

it turned him from a once quiet yet somewhat charismatic kid who did what he was told with little hesitation, despite his thoughts, into this total douche-bag that couldn't give two shits about what anybody wanted and was totally irresponsible and very hard to control. at least, that's what his parents and teachers and peers thought. he spoke back without a second thought, and protested everything, finally finding himself independent and with his own actions to worry about, yet the approval of his own god-damn parents had begun to fade and they looked at him as more of a chore than a son. his dad vocalised this, but his mother was a liar and wouldn't let herself believe she truly hated her own son's actions.

he hadn't changed.  
he was the image of his fucked-up parents.  
but still, he made the same argument when the word practice was brought up.

it almost seemed like the life of a punk rock star was the way for him to escape. on the stage, no one could tell him what to do! he wouldn’t have to shave his head, didn’t get dirty with mud and grass, and people would recognise him for what he really wanted to be. he had decided on making this his life dream, and he wasn't turning back, now that he was so happy with his own ideas.

there was a little part of him that truly wanted to thank that girl for being so hot that she sprouted an idea in his brain. leon wasn't one for being upright about stuff like that, though. he preferred to keep it cool and discover his life on his own, and be the one in charge. he was a leader, that's for sure, and didn't like relying on others. he thought it slowed him down, and he was used to being quick.

but he didn’t know where to start.  
so when he jumped on the chance to get into hope’s peak on a sports scholarship, he decided to reach out to the one and only; sayaka maizono.

even from the second they met, they had been polar opposites.

she had that star look to her on stage, covered in colourful and glittery makeup that lit up her face even more in the stage lights, but when he saw her in person, she seemed different. a cute different that not even the really hot girl in the hairdresser’s could compare to. 

sure, he liked hot girls ‘cause they were good looking, but sayaka was pretty. she looked cute and innocent, and it probably made her appeal to the younger teens of japan just that little bit more, but with the tiny bit of makeup on her right now, no girl could compare to her.

her hair was down, apart from one or two clips in her hair keeping her fringe from covering her mesmerising ice cold blue eyes. her dark blue locks framed her face in a way that made her look petite, yet very friendly and approachable.

leon didn’t realise, until then, how much hair could really change a girl’s appearance. 

he was really confident around her, showing off in any way possible to make him seem less of a failure to her. she was this amazing celebrity, so he felt like he couldn’t waste her time. needless to say, he was really surprised when she agreed to teach him a thing or two, but kept it cool, as always.

just weeks after this, he had already let down his guard and false showoff attitude around her. a little more than he liked to admit, but he still was somewhat of a dick, for better language. he’d flirt with her a little less than usual, compared to any other girl he had flirted to before, for whatever reason. his friends would joke about how he acted around her sometimes. he'd chuckle at everything she'd say, and be constantly moving, messing with his jacket sleeves or tapping his foot to an imaginary beat. he did this subconsciously, of course. and anyway, they were just habits.

he had confided in his classmates about her, which was more of an embarrassment on his shoulders. not all of them, of course, but he told chihiro in science on the sly that he thought sayaka looked really cute with her hair down, and he figured chihiro was to blame for the fact mondo kept asking him about sayaka.

but it was only him, chihiro fujisaki, mondo oowada and now kiyotaka ishimaru who knew about this. they were his closest friends anyway, so they wouldn’t tell anyone.  
chi was really shy around people not in her close friend group.  
taka was all against spreading drama and unnecessary shit like that in class.  
mondo just.. kinda kept secrets. 

but they kept telling him to ask her out one of the days. he ended up giving in, and when she first decided to show up to one of his baseball matches, he decided to make a move. after a little bit of small talk that seemed out of the blue for leon, he thanked her immensely and then began nervously asking her if she was up to go get food sometime.

sayaka was definitely full of surprises, because to his delight, she agreed. he celebrated in secret with his three best friends, and they all laughed about how absurd it was that he, of all people - leon kuwata - was lucky enough to get a date with sayaka maizono. he felt like the luckiest man on the planet, surrounded by loving people he could laugh and joke with and having a dream that was just about in his reach.

he spent all of his time caring for her, and caring about her, while playing the guitar in the meantime - something she taught him - and showing how much he loved her. even though he didn’t fancy being really cheesy, he couldn't help but fall victim to all the cliche romantic stuff he learned from useless classes in japanese class or stories that were still sitting where they always had been - his mother’s bookshelf.

she did the same, but her heart was slowly wearing away. the hope she once kept in her heart was disappearing, and in its place, despair appeared. she was so used to the flashing lights and the drama that came of being a pop sensation, that this seemed almost boring. she hadn’t settled for something less than ideal, like togami, who used the excuse of spreading his family’s name and making sure everyone remembered it, even when he would inevitably leave.

she hadn’t decided to think about the present, like the mysterious celeste, who was prone to adapting to every single one of her situations and thought more about the now than the then or what would soon be. 

and she didn’t want to disobey every rule and guideline that had been made specifically for an idol, like the one and like many, leon kuwata. he was her opposite; where her icy blue eyes and his fiery auburn hair spoke for themselves. sure, she cared about him and he cared about her, but she wasn’t willing to stay stationary just for him. her life was up ahead, and the rules had to be followed, not broken.

leon was a rule breaker; fierce, and ready for anything life threw at him. he treated everything like a game, and was too confident and oblivious to the truth of the music industry. in some sort of sick and twisted way, she thought of herself as a pawn when looking through his eyes. she was his teacher, and she ripped out pages of each book he studied so that it blinded his eyes from the harsh reality of being a star. 

everyone else had settled and became friends and even couples, and she had fallen into that trap. but maybe she didn’t have to anymore.

maybe if she didn’t want to be stationary anymore, she wouldn’t have to.  
she could put on the best performance, and in the center of it all would be herself.  
it would take a lot of work, but so did the thing she had devoted her life to.  
what was that thing she was told the first time she had been onstage? 

...

break a leg?  
oh, she was going to do much more than break legs.  
and the audience was going to love it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “will you stay with me?”  
> “you’re all i have now; everything i tried so hard to get is just-..”


	2. second introductions.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> maybe it was meant to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “hey, where’d this come from?”  
> “you sure you’re okay?”  
> “we can just talk, if you want.”

…

she turned the world into a living nightmare with herself at its center, just like she wanted it. there was nothing more exciting than leading the entire planet and plunging them into despair, and she was incredibly proud of her actions, no matter how disturbing and cruel. 

at the core remained her oblivious and stupid classmates, whom she had blinded. they had no idea about this cruel world, and would never have, if she had it her way. 

but there was one exception;  
the one and like many, leon kuwata. 

she had erased their memories.  
or that's what she thought. 

but, there was something in leon that changed once he saw her for the.. first time. something that told him that this was familiar. he knew this had happened before somewhere, somehow, but he couldn't prove it. 

so instead, he asked her if he had heard of her before.  
"sayaka maizono, isn’t it? could've sworn i’d met ya.. i’m leon kuwata, by the way!"

"maybe it was meant to be, then!"  
maybe it was meant to be. 

she decided that instead of this dull despair hanging over each of their heads, she would spare one. it was only by coincidence that he was interested in her. 

even after the announcement that they were to kill each other to survive, he never really changed. no one really did. 

celestia ludenberg still wanted to adapt to her surroundings.  
byakuya togami still treated himself like royalty.  
leon kuwata was still fire.  
but she wasn’t ice anymore. 

she was bored.  
a blank sheet.  
and she hated it. she hated her mind being blank like this. what was she meant to do now..?

she had plunged the world into despair, and yet she still felt blank and bored.  
is this really where it would end? what if she slipped that she was the mastermind of this stupid game?

...

mastermind?

why had she called herself the mastermind? it was surprising for any of this to happen, for this tragedy to strike the world, yet she still felt unamused. giving herself a title would never change this. she needed a motive. 

everything came from her mind days before it happened. every motive, every action, it was done in her favour. 

except for leon kuwata. 

he went through the same torture as everybody else, but he stayed the same; ignorant to everything, rebellious. it was as if he was sticking up a middle finger to her. 

but he wouldn’t do that.  
because he cared for her. 

and unknown to her, she had left a photo in his room of the two of them eating cake and laughing. and another one, of all of them, his arm around her shoulder and every one of them grinning. 

when she found of this, she lied to herself.  
this was all to torture him more, to give him something that he possibly couldn’t ever have. 

it only led to the same things repeating.  
everyone was in harmony.  
and she had played along for too long, and now everything was beginning to fade away. the hope of everyone else was beginning to rival her despair. 

it was time for her first motive.  
and it was time for her to escalate things. 

she knew what had happened to everyone else.  
and some of it was fake. 

but she had gone out of her way to make sure the closest people she knew would be filled with despair much quicker, making sure they went down with her. she'd never be alone. 

she wasn't even alone when she ran off from what appeared to be a very graphic and upsetting tape. 

two people ran after her this time; the one and only makoto naegi, and the one and like many leon kuwata. 

she could hear them outside her dorm room talking amongst themselves. nothing in this was planned, so she was just that much of a viewer, almost like the ones actually watching the show at home.

they were polar opposites. 

“we really are stuck here. i kinda regret treating it as a joke.”  
“l-leon? you really think that-?”  
“yeah, i do. we’ve looked everywhere for days, man! we’re all trapped, and now we’re gonna die cause people are gonna depend on that stupid motive.”

...

"what did you see?"  
"..i saw my cousin. old team. heh, those lazy assholes wouldn't even live for me."  
"what?!"  
"oh. shit. dude, really, it's fake. the world outside is still fine, they’re just trying to confine us to this one school."

the feeling of uncertainty was almost shot through them at that instant, and for a split second, the despair in sayaka’s mind dulled down to let her open her eyes to what she truly was doing. 

that was only a second though, as fake tears rolling down her cheeks brought her back to the fake reality she had built around herself. 

she opened the door instinctively, and the two looked her right in the eyes.  
if she could hear that they were opposites from the other side of her door, now she could truly see it. 

each of their faces were covered with something different.  
makoto was surprised and relieved. something that showed hopefulness. if she couldn't drag him down now, even with leon going against him, he was unbreakable. at least, in her eyes. 

but the one and like many leon kept his deserving title.  
just like many, he had despair written all over his face. his once confident facade had faded and she could truly see how upset and heartbroken he was, even if he was smiling at her in what seemed like relief.  
she wasn't fooled by him anymore.  
she could see his true colours. 

now he truly was like many.  
not the rebellious, punk kid who wanted to set himself apart from everyone else.  
and it was because of her actions that he was now the odd one out in this group of hopelessly hopeful students, yet still the image of the people she had tortured outside of the large entrance doors of hope's peak.

she had seen despair everywhere and it never fazed her. she knew her brain was destroyed due to what she had done, and she didn’t care. 

yet something struck when the look on his face wore off suddenly. he gave her a big grin and she felt as if she had been stabbed in the back by him. 

"you're alright, right sayaka?"  
"don’t worry, maizono-chan! we’ll all stay in this together! you’ve got us, after all!"

...

it was as if a lifetime had passed since she last heard that nickname. he’d kiss her forehead every morning without fail and wrap his arm around her shoulders, while muttering a sleepy, "mornin’, maizono-chan. how are ya?" 

she would always give a cheeky response that would wake him up and give her a slight bump on the shoulder with a wide smile. 

maybe he’d gotten that nickname from the stupid goofy photo that now sat on the locker beside his bed. she wouldn’t know until she asked him, and that would give away everything. 

".. yes, i’ll be okay! i just got a little scared, that’s all."  
"it’s okay to be scared. you can call any one of us if you need anything, you know that."  
"mhm! thank you for being there for me though!"

leon didn’t like being cheesy.  
if this had been a tv show, which unknown to him, it was, he would’ve fake gagged and changed the channel almost immediately.  
but he almost felt like this had to be a tv show.  
and he was fitting right into his unwritten script.

he thought of this as makoto gave sayaka an innocent and honest hug, because something sparked inside of him. whether it was jealousy, a sense of deja-vu, or something even he couldn’t truly name he didn’t know at that moment.

“well, as long as you’re okay, that’s all i needed to know. i’m gonna head to my room, knock if ya need anything, ‘kay?” as he walked away, their approving faces and smiles fading slowly.

and yet again, like every night in this horrid place, he closed the door behind him and took a glance at the two photos, letting the questions of everything and the faces of his teammates fill his mind. sure, he was worried for all of them, but he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed; much more than his classmates.

he had taken it up with monokuma only, and the bear gave the worst answers to his obvious yes or no questions.

had he been to the school before?  
how did he know these people?

he hadn’t gotten the answers to anything.  
and so, the unanswered questions ate away at his sanity for a long time, feeling as if he knew all these people but at the same time, he didn’t know them at all. at random times, he blurted out nicknames, like maizono-chan, or chi, or taka, and it felt surprisingly normal to call them by these made up names that just kinda appeared in his mind.

still, every time he did this, he’d feel a feeling of uncertainty wash over him.  
the closest person he had in this horrible place was, not so surprisingly, the one and only sayaka maizono, and he had these feelings to blame for it.

any time he saw her he felt obligated to say something. sure, they were classmates and all, but it felt like this secret of his was forcing him to really find out if, in a different place, he really was close friends with her. maybe there was another world where there was no killing and they all lived in harmony in the few years he intended to stay in hope’s peak. 

maybe he could’ve been happy with her, without despair looming over their heads.  
but this was all just his spiraling thoughts from two photos he found under his bed the first night he showed up.

he decided the next time he saw sayaka with the two of them on their own, he’d show her.  
but he wasn’t expecting it to be the same night he made that decision.  
and he definitely wasn’t expecting a note to slide under his door at 1:06am.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “i just wanted to know.”
> 
> ...
> 
> “you know what? sure.”


	3. trapped.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> that was a lifetime ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “if that’s what ya want, maizono-chan.”  
> “well, i promised ya; now you gotta do the same!”

…

maybe she wasn’t expecting it either.  
but it was undeniable that she had lured in a certain baseball star.  
she had pulled someone into her trap.  
and that one person was the one and for once, only, leon kuwata.

he showed up at ‘her’ door three minutes after she slipped the note under his door, written in a blue pen that was dull and uninteresting compared to her vibrant hair, and her icy eyes, and his ocean eyes. the ones that he often found himself getting lost in, and immediately looking away, somewhat ashamed that he was that interested in a girl he had only met about a week ago.

she had fallen just as much into his sick and twisted trap as he had fallen into hers.  
his eyes were captivating. the words he said to her built up into a giant cage, and he held the key, refusing to let her go while murmuring her old nickname as he taunted her, messing about with the key in his hands, or tapping his foot to the imaginary beat that constantly played in his ears when she was around.

he never could stay still.

not even on their first date, which was somewhat cliche, and he had definitely read about it or looked it up. they had the stereotypical teenage love, going on the most stereotypical of dates.

walking in a park, holding ice-creams in hand.  
well, he had decided to buy her cotton candy on their second trip around the park while he had a refreshing blue slushie.

and as they had shared their first kiss in the most private of places a park could offer, he chuckled at her until she begged him to stop with an embarrassed smile. her tongue had been stained with the colour, and he found it hilarious.

but that was a lifetime ago.  
and somewhere inside, they both knew it.

he had that stupid grin he covered his face with when he was worried when she opened the door and a tiny bit of her heart cringed at what she was planning to do next, but before she could do anything or say anything or scream at him, he interrupted her thoughts and soon to be actions and words while holding up a small photo.

“hey, uh.. i don’t know why i’m telling ya, but i found this in my room and i’ve been meaning to ask ya if you knew what it was or why it was in my room or something.. Uh.”

his voice was tainted with worry and regret and he knew even before the words came from his mouth he was cringing at himself at how stupid he sounded, but before he could apologise or walk himself out of her room, she pulled his arm and muttered.

“i-.. i’m sorry.”  
“no, it’s fine. i shouldn’t have asked, you wouldn’t have had a clue anyway.”

her nails almost dug into his arm. they weren't sharp and fake, like the ones junko enoshima was solely associated with, but natural, and coated with a thin layer of navy nail polish. she had almost drenched herself in the colour blue, now that she thought about it.

he stared back at her with what looked like astonishment, but then quickly turned into a surprised look once her hands dug at his pale skin. knowing her mistake, sayaka pulled back, but many more were to come. this was just the start of the things she'd do that she would immediately want to take back, and luckily enough for her, this one was one that she could.

“n-no, i know what it is. the photo, i mean.”  
what the hell was she doing?

“you remember it, right? my birthday.. i got a camera, one that prints immediately. i took while while you were eating and you gave out because you thought you looked bad. but you kept it anyway, i guess. i haven’t seen that photo since.”

huh? what was she blabbering about?

“i got bored. i gave up on everything we had done and i was selfish. i couldn’t even get despair right though. how you’ve destroyed everything, leon.”

why was she-

“i’m the one to blame for all of this.”

real tears fell down where fake tears had previously left streaks. her face was the image of what it was earlier, but instead of makoto naegi taking the spotlight like he never really did, she had the one and like many leon kuwata to focus all of her attention on, and needless to say, he wasn't the happiest person when she admitted.  
god, she couldn’t act this out this once, and now it had come crumbling down days after she had decided to put them through the hell the rest of the world had gone through.

“it’s selfish, but now that i’ve outed this, i’ve left you in a bad situation. you have to join me. we must lead this game together. It’s the only choice you have-”

“what?! you’re-.. asking me to kill them, or at least watch?!”  
“i guess i am.”

she had never seen the look of rejection in his eyes, but it would’ve made her look the same if she turned him down that day he asked her out. that lifetime ago.  
they had always been opposites, but this one time, they could've been the same.  
if it weren't for the things she was saying right now, she'd reach out and hug him tightly, whispering sweet nothings in his ear and standing on her tippy toes so she could reach; just as she did when they were first locked in by none other than her.

she had led him into this, and now she had the audacity to ask him to lead this cruel and horrifying game by her side?! 

leon kuwata truly was the one and like many now.  
she had gotten the same negativity from every single person she asked to lead, until leading them astray and killing them in some kind of sick way. no matter what kind of death there was, there was a chance she had saw it unfold before her very eyes. after all, everyone in her eyes was a puppet, and she was the puppeteer. leon was no exception to this imaginary rule.

but still, she didn't seem to want to lose him.  
for some reason.

“sorry, i-.. i can’t do that.”

maybe it was meant to be.  
they always were total opposites.  
she had changed from this pure, kind-hearted girl who could never hurt a soul to a power-hungry megalomaniac. playing the game of life with a gamble, and putting her life on the line for despair. she had morphed into something of each of the students; celestia’s carelessness, byakuya’s power, hina’s lightheartedness. she was an amalgamation of the people who had essentially made her destroy her own life. 

it was the most creative suicide anyone could ever have come up with.

but he stayed the same.  
It seemed as if he stood for justice now, and was much more stern than she had ever seen him when they enjoyed life at hope’s peak. he wanted his freedom desperately, and it seemed as if he would never stop fighting for it, even if it cost his life and maybe even the lives of everyone around him if he kept it up.  
still, she knew it would’ve come to this.  
the despair in her heart was overbearing, and controlled her like a little puppet.  
but no, she was the puppeteer.

and leon kuwata, a puppet that lived to fill the orders of others, was like many.

she sighed heavily, her voice tinged with the tiniest bit of disappointment, and sat back down on the bed that had been neatly made compared to leon's. she was neat, and liked things in order; of course she'd be disappointed in him when he didn't do what she told him to. it was all the best for him if he did what she said, but no.

she tapped one side of the bed and leon mistook it as an opportunity to sit down with her and talk things out, like they should've.  
instead, she had reached for what had been sitting behind her on the bed. the one thing in the room that he couldn't see, and in her eyes, would cause his demise.

a kitchen knife that showed her reflection once she grabbed it.  
she swung it with everything she had.

and even though there was something inside her begging to be let out, and protect him from every strike that would inevitably some his way, she suppressed it and continued on the path she had paved out for herself.

but leon dodged it with what reflexes he had.  
with every swing struck memories of growing up and trying to avoid every mention of baseball for the longest time, and on the pitch, hitting each baseball back to hear the roars of fans. 

he dodged with everything he had to save his life, and eventually grabbed a gold katana to defend himself with. he couldn’t bring himself to attack her though; he only used it for defending himself. 

when he stood up again, trying to gain his breath, they were ultimately at a stalemate. they had nothing to say to each other as they kept trying to keep themselves steady.

“if i can’t kill you, then you have to kill me. one of us is dying before the morning comes.”  
“why can’t you listen for fucking once?!"

his words echoed in their ears.  
he had shouted at the top of his lungs, that's for sure.  
if the door had been closed, no one would've heard, but she hadn't shut the door, and neither had he.

but she looked almost scared when he screamed at her, so he lowered his voice in embarassment.

"i-i’m not killing you.”  
“..then i’ll do it myself.”

and with a final shove, she pushed him from the room and locked the door.  
he banged on the door for what felt like a lifetime, trying to regain the lifetime that had just flashed before his eyes and save her.  
he knew what she was doing, what she was about to do.

but before he could alert anyone else, or break down the door before seeing her corpse on the bathroom floor, he heard a familiar roar coming down the halls, followed by running. they traveled down the same corridors his voice had, and had suddenly met with worried and confused thoughts that ran wild.  
before he could turn around to see who had shouted at him, he felt a bang in the back of his head and everything went fuzzy, and then black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “hehe, okay!”  
> “we’ll stay by each other’s side.”


	4. always.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> she was the one and only.  
> and he was the one and like many.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "you've doomed me, kuwata-kun."

...

if leon had known how much power the one and only, sayaka maizono, had, would he have changed his mind and joined her?

probably not.  
but that was because leon never changed.

that didn’t make that much of a difference anyway to sayaka. she was going to get her job done, and keep her word. 

sayaka could’ve been a really good magician, because the tricks she pulled off were astonishing and blew the audience away. she was putting on a great show for everyone to see and had no intention of stopping. 

and not even the one and like many leon kuwata could get in her way this time.

she was a master of disguise.  
maybe her time as a pop idol was to blame. 

she was used to putting on a mask and hiding the true feelings she had about the music industry. she even did this away from the cameras, it had changed her that much. 

she was to be forever stained with the guilt of hiding every single negative emotion.  
even when she faked her own death, she couldn’t cover the walls of her apologies to him, but she so badly wanted to. 

they were both going to be in despair once she was finished.

and she wouldn’t be alone again.

…

leon kuwata had woken up in his room, laying on his messy bed. he hadn’t thought everything was a dream, like a different leon that had gotten his clothes and hands stained in pink blood. it was all clear in his mind; her shoving him outside, his desperate cries for her to open the door.

but as he sat up to run outside to her door, his head began thumping and he was once again reminded of the massive throbbing in the back of his head. oh yeah, someone had knocked him out.  
by the side of his bed, where he lay one of his hands for stabilisation, was a bottle of water with a short and small note covered in writing that looked neat and big. surprisingly, he could read it, even when it felt like he was smashing his head against a wall.

hope you get better!  
\- aoi + sakura.

it brought a smile to his face, even if it was a slight one.  
but no, he couldn’t get distracted.

he took a sip of the cold and refreshing water, and then without having a moment to regret it, ran out the door and to where he had gone the night before.. only to see the room packed with concerned and afraid faces.

everyone looked the same as to how they were the first day.  
kyoko was focused, just like the wealthy byakyua.  
mondo was filled with anger and was standing beside chihiro, who was crying beside him.

before he could let out a shout to let them know of his presence, he shoved past yasuhiro and celeste who looked back at him with just as much fear until he reached the bathroom, where he reluctantly pushed the door open and took one breath before it got stuck in his throat.

she was lying there.  
covered in blood.

the one and only sayaka maizono wasn’t a girl of empty threats, and he had found that out too late.

he could feel the colour draining from his face, his body going numb yet he was still balling up his fists and suppressing the overwhelming urge to vomit or burst into tears or curse out and punch every wall in sight.

he didn’t save her.  
he was too late.

“you’re late, kuwata.”  
he turned to see the cold face of byakuya togami, who was now standing in front of makoto naegi. needless to say, he wasn’t happy in the slightest.  
then again, who could be about any of this..?

“you’re our prime suspect.”

..?

The words echoed in his head like the lifetime that he could never have back. the questions ran through his head and now the overwhelming urges began to slowly fade from his mind, yet questions filled their place. prime suspect? if monokuma had kept to his word, there was no prime suspect. he would’ve been able to leave if he really killed her. and anyway, this wasn’t some sick court case that a bunch of students had to deal with!

“fuckin’ sicko.”  
“can we really say he did it though? we can’t know for sure..”  
“look, he’s got ‘guilty’ written all over his face.”

and along with guilty, the words that spilled from her sick mind last night were written in some kind of invisible marker.

“you have to kill me.”  
“I’m to blame for all of this.”  
“i’ll do it myself.”

“.. what, you don’t have an alibi?”  
“someone knocked me out! i couldn’t have-”  
“i did that, and she locked you out so you couldn’t destroy evidence! we already talked about this in the morning, i’m not repeating myself just ‘cause you got sloppy!”

they really were against her, and makoto had an alibi now.  
no one noticed it was his room, apart from the observant kyoko kirigiri, who mentioned it once and believed him with his stupid excuse.

the trial started two hours after he woke up.  
he didn’t have a chance to defend himself.

“i think we’ve solved it.”  
“well then, may we go over it?”

“sayaka maizono had invited the culprit over, intending to kill them, but the person fought back and eventually, in the struggle, they grabbed the knife and stabbed her. she locked them out to get rid of any evidence, but the damage was already done and the blood was already on their clothes.  
the person did whatever they could to destroy the remaining evidence, but was sloppy and quick as to try and get everything done by morning time. their mistakes were scattered everywhere; wearing different clothes this morning, leaving burnt pieces in the cleaning room, and not being quick and quiet enough to reach sayaka’s room before the rest of us.”

“that’s how it played out.  
isn’t that right, leon kuwata?!”

...

..huh?

is this what she meant?  
that one of them had to die?  
would it have been better if he just had said nothing, or agreed, or let her kill him?

“..are you all that stupid?! you’re going to believe a bunch of tricks?! she killed herself, i didn’t go near her!”

“but you were invited to her room, is that not correct?”  
“well, yeah, but-”  
“and you defended ‘yourself’ with the fake katana.”

“she tried to kill me! was i not meant to-”

“so you admit it, then.”

celeste’s last words to him rang through his head. it hurt more than when he woke up, it hurt more than knowing the truth and that sayaka maizono had turned everyone against him.  
and that was because he knew no one cared or believed him or wanted to defend him.

he didn’t do it, none of this made any sense, why was everything in opposition to him?!

…

“well, cast your votes, everyone! this bear is getting bored hearing y'all blabber on!”

buttons were pressed.  
leon could only stare in shock at the faces of the other students; he didn’t look down to see his face in the reflection, tears in the corners of his eyes making everything below him blurry. 

what if he really did do it..?  
what if, instead of her admitting to be the mastermind, it was his delusion.  
if she really was the mastermind, and she had died by his hand, he would be able to roam free, they all would.

yet he was still stuck here.  
and so was everyone else.

his mind was still swirling when cheers from an imaginary audience roared out through the courtroom and every students’ faces turned to his in disbelief. well, some of the more empathetic people, that is.

he couldn’t say anything in response.  
he killed the one and only; sayaka maizono.

the girl that once had been his dreams.  
his lifetime.

what would she say if she had been standing where a sad portrait of her innocent and pretty face stood instead..?

would she be soft spoken, like chihiro had always been?  
chihiro was always sweet and cared about anyone, no matter how much proof sat in front of her.  
like the time one of the assholes from leon’s baseball team would tease her relentlessly, throwing stuff at her in class from the back and sticking notes on her locker.  
she never raised her voice at that douchebag, and told leon and mondo to “not be too rude to him, please.” 

“K̶u̶w̶a̶t̶a̶-̶k̶u̶n̶ leon, you really..?”

or would she be blunt, like taka, who stood for justice and fairness above all?  
but kiyotaka was a guy of secrets and preferred less to talk about himself.  
it took him and mondo weeks to tell their close friends because “it wasn’t important to schoolwork and his mind should be on different, less ashaming, things.”  
that guy never gave himself a break, heh.

“why did you do it?! to m̶e̶ sayaka, of all people?!”

somewhere inside him, though, leon knew that she wouldn’t say any of these things.  
sayaka was sayaka, after all.  
she was the one and only.

“you’ve doomed me, kuwata-kun.”

and with that, the tears came trickling down his face and he fell to his knees.  
it was the end of her.  
he was the end of her.  
and she was the end of him.

“i- i don’t remember-..! she didn’t- she wasn’t bleeding, i wouldn’t kill her!”

“tch, still denying. even after you’ve been found guilty. do you know what shame is?”  
“he sure won’t know after the punishment! puhuhu~!”

“you can’t kill me, i didn’t kill her!”  
“give it over, redhead! rules are rules, and i stick by ‘em!”

why aren’t they listening?!  
they aren’t listening because they know the truth.

leon kuwata was split in two.  
the one and like many was trying to protest his innocence, to no avail. it was everything sayaka had seen before. eyes that begged for pity and forgiveness, that were clouded over with the despair of knowing of death too soon.  
he’d never be able to achieve his dream of being a rockstar that toured the world and relished in the fact that he was a millionaire with all the fame and money he could possibly want.

yet, in some ways, he was the one and only leon kuwata.  
the little part that the one and like many sayaka maizono never saw.  
the one that truly regretted everything that he never did, the one who wasn’t that douchebag that lived too high and had too much of an ego to realise he could make mistakes.  
the one that wasn’t the image of his parents; too tough and loud, yet denying the reality of life.

this leon was everything that he saw sayaka as.  
caring and committed and able to accept the harsh truth, no matter how warped it sounded.

and when he showed himself as the one and only, flawed leon kuwata, she turned into the one and like many, chasing her dream and relishing in the life she had, sayaka maizono.

they always were polar opposites.

he was the one who stabbed her through the stomach, leaving her to bleed out and suffer in her remaining breaths.  
he was the one who led her into his trap with his charisma and uniqueness and care.

yet she was the one who dragged him by the neck with a metal collar that led him to what would be his demise. she pointed the machine at him and swung every single baseball at him, listening to every crack and snap and split that left him to suffer for his remaining breaths.  
she was the one who caught his eye that one day and kept talking to him and made him believe there was someone better than who was and what he would ever be.

she wasn’t the maizono-chan he had known before, and he wasn’t kuwata-kun.

she was the one and only sayaka maizono, whose hair framed her delicate face in the most hypnotising and deceiving way, her eyes bright and priceless like sapphires, where he found himself lost in them.

he was the one and like many leon kuwata, who changed himself to suit no one other than himself. his spiked and long auburn hair being dyed so much he couldn’t remember the original colour. but she still found herself attached to him in a way words couldn’t convey.

they had always been polar opposites.  
and that  
was always meant to be,  
because the last time they weren't  
was a lifetime ago.

and they would always stay the same from now on.  
she would forever be the one and only,  
and he would always stay as the one and like many.

\- end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "we could never stay by each other's side."
> 
> -
> 
> gonna be waiting for the comments pointing out every single repeat--
> 
> jokes aside, here's an author's note.  
> i didn't want to make another chapter, but i really wanted to thank anyone who read this little thing that's been in the back of my head for ages. it was pretty short compared to other people's stuff, i know, but i really enjoyed writing this and it's the longest thing i've written.  
> i've been sick for the past few days writing this, and it's given me that one little thing to do that keeps me up instead of feeling sorry for myself and laying in bed all day, haha.
> 
> leon and sayaka were my favourites from the first game, if you can't tell.  
> i've really wanted to do something with them in it, and so when a random conversation - more on that in a moment - sparked this in my brain, i knew i had to type something out. i'm pretty sure this was gonna be a oneshot, so when i carried on after the first chapter, i surprised myself too! it was really nice to write this though, and honestly, i was tearing up near the end of my writing. my heart couldn't take the angst overload-
> 
> oh, another thanks to grace, my closest friend and the one you can definitely blame for this sad mess of a story. if it wasn't enough that she started the conversation on mastermind aus, she told me all about danganronpa and got me to watch the first few episodes before breaking my heart when i insisted she tell me if leon died or not. it's thanks to her i had some kind of motivation to pick up a pen or start typing, so really, grace, thanks a lot. 
> 
> hope you enjoyed! i think this is a good note to leave the story on but i do have ideas to carry this on, so keep an eye out for anything else i post! 
> 
> \- stxrryy.


End file.
